The present invention relates generally to computer portraits and more particularly to a doll having a computer portrait for a face.
The prior art has produced a rather crude doll with a person's face transferred onto it. In order to accomplish this feat, the face was first heat pressed on to a flat sleeve with a stretch-type back which was then slipped over the head of an already stuffed doll. It was not possible to press the face directly on to the stuffed doll because the surface had to be completely flat to press the picture onto it without wrinkling the surface during the process and thus distorting the image. Therefore, the resulting doll did not look very lifelike.
The technology for computer generated photographs was developed by NASA in the late 1960's to enable the world to get its first close-up glimpse of the moon through use of the technology. This space age technology lead to the development of a process in which a video camera could take a picture, capture it on a television monitor, feed it through a computer which would then send the information to a high speed printer. Such a system has been commercially developed and marketed by Computer Amusement Systems, Inc., 160 S.W. 12th Ave. Suite 106, Deerfield Beach, Fla. 33442. The print-out could then be heat pressed onto various objects such as t-shirts, cups, buttons, aprons, and caps through the use of readily available equipment. Heretofore, however, there has not been available a method or pattern designed that would allow the transfer of the print-out onto a surface other than one that was flat and which was supported so that the pressure of the heat press would not distort the surface and therefore distort the image being transferred. This deficiency in the prior an has limited the ability to use the space-age technology in the creation of three-dimensional products, such as dolls, which bear the likeness of the image on the print-out.
There is no prior art product or method which will create a life-like doll with a face that has an undistorted image of a person. What is needed, then, is a system which allows a portrait to be placed on a doll's face without wrinkling. This needed system must allow the portrait to be placed on the face without undue distortion. This system is presently lacking in the prior art.